Jeff McDonald: Race for McDyess begins

Now that McDyess is a free agent, half the league has expressed interest in signing him. It would be surprising if the Spurs weren’t one of them, but it would also be quite the upset if McDyess actually ended up in San Antonio.

The prevailing opinion across the NBA is that McDyess, the former Detroit Piston is in truth a future Detroit Piston.

Like Brent Barry last season, after a league-mandated 30-day wait, McDyess is expected to re-sign with the team that just dealt him.

Just for kicks, however, let’s assume McDyess shops himself on the free market. Where would the Spurs stand then?

In that case, Cleveland would seem the most logical destination. The Cavaliers are a contender in the East, and have almost all of their mid-level exception ($5.1 million) to use. The defending champion Celtics are also an obvious contender with money to spend — about $2.4 million.

The Spurs, who spent most of their mid-level on Roger Mason this offseason, have a little less than $2.1 million available. That would seem to make them underdogs in the McDyess sweepstakes, were there to be a sweepstakes.